


the magic ingredient is love (or also known as, park jihoon)

by 99izm



Category: Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bakery, Fluff, very fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-01
Updated: 2017-11-01
Packaged: 2019-01-27 23:04:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12592532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/99izm/pseuds/99izm
Summary: Step One: With a sprinkle of fate, pour 10g of Park Woojin and 10g of Park Jihoon into the mixing bowl.





	the magic ingredient is love (or also known as, park jihoon)

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Birthday, to the ultimate bias wrecker (who everyone thinks that I'm a Woojin bias)!!!!!!!!!
> 
> Thank you to [leeminhyoongi](http://archiveofourown.org/users/leeminhyoongi/pseuds/leeminhyoongi) for helping me look through this ♡

For Park Woojin, baking has always been something he loves.

Perhaps it was because of that one class he had in elementary school—home economics, where the teacher had taught them how to make a chocolate chip muffin. It was tough—difficult to pry the packet of flour open, difficult to control the amount of milk that goes into the mixture, difficult to get the  _right_ consistency of batter. But when he brought back five perfect muffins (he did put one into his mouth when he was on the way home—to test the flavour, of course!) and saw the way his parents’ and Yerim’s faces had lit up in happiness, he thought that he wanted to do this for the rest of his life.

He wanted to continue making cakes and sweets that could bring smiles to the faces of people. It’s always so easy to be disappointed and sad in the light of the miserable world, but if there’s one thing that never fails to brighten up someone’s life, Woojin thinks that it  _has_ got to be sweets.

They say that it’s hard to get into Seoul’s most prestigious cooking school, but Woojin thinks that it’s a lie—because how can anything be hard if you’re in love with it? Baking is everything that he has known, and Woojin doesn’t understand how it’s like for something to be hard, especially when you love it. The fixed numbers and the ingredients come naturally to him after hours of hard work and effort, and Woojin is proud of what he has achieved, as he wakes up in the morning to prepare to make the baked goods for his very  _own_ café: Wanna Bean.

This is also why falling in love is a foreign concept because all Park Woojin has ever known was fixed ratios, numbers, and recipes to abide by. And this is how Park Jihoon sweeps Park Woojin into an entirely different world from the one that he’s so used to.

 

—

 

Park Jihoon is like a storm that Park Woojin has never encountered before.

 _It’s like when you get a brand new ingredient for a pastry that you want to make, but you have never made it before_ , Woojin thinks. Wanna Bean is a small café down the road from the university main campus. Most of his regular customers are from the university, probably lured by the pastries (which Woojin thinks that they are absolutely  _delicious_ ), the free flowing water, the relatively inexpensive coffee (compared to Starbucks, the masters of capitalism) and the free wifi.

Woojin did make sure that the décor would appeal to the younger crowd, with which he employed the help of his childhood friend, Daehwi, for advice. He had emphasised the need for aesthetics—“Hyung, it has  _got_ to be the pastel aesthetic! It’s soft and calm, and  _sooooo_ Instagram-worthy!”—and Woojin trusts Daehwi. Perhaps it was a good decision to listen to Daehwi, because he has been getting a steady crowd, including those random girls who come into the café, and spend more time taking photographs of the décor and the pastries than actually consuming them.

Perhaps, he’s a tad  _too_ in love with the entire process of baking, because he doesn’t actually realise when the cakes in the display counter are disappearing faster than he can sell them. Woojin has never really been the type to be calculative of sales, but he thinks that it has got to be a problem when he just made those nutella cupcakes, and they are gone by noon.

“Guanlin,” Woojin decides to approach the younger part-timer he had recently hired. Guanlin turns around from sweeping the floor, like he has been caught doing something against the law, something  _nasty_. “Do you know what happened to the nutella cupcakes I baked this morning?”

“Um,” Guanlin’s shifting from foot to foot, and Woojin knows that it’s a sign of nervousness. He likes baking, but it doesn’t mean that he’s  _terrible_ at human interactions (even though Daehwi would beg to differ).

He does try to lighten the mood. Perhaps Guanlin would be less nervous and be more willing to speak. “Don’t worry, I’m not angry or anything.”

“I was hungry!” Guanlin replies. It’s quick, almost like he  _finally_ had an idea of what excuse he could say, and said it out loud before his brain could actually process it.

It’s funny because that’s also the exact same time that Guanlin’s stomach rumbles, and Woojin tries not to scoff.

“Okay, hyung,” Guanlin mumbles, and he looks sad like a small puppy that has been kicked on the streets. Woojin clenches his fist and tells himself,  _I will not fall for the kicked puppy eyes!_ “Jihoon-  _hyong_ came over and I gave them to him.”

“Jihoon-hyong?” Woojin's pretty sure that he hasn't hired any part-timers with that name, and he is the owner so he would know if anyone else did.

Guanlin gives him a look of confusion. "Oh, you don't know who Jihoon-hyong is?"

"Evidently, I don't," Woojin sighs. "Who is he?" He also doesn't forget to add, "It's  _hyung,_ by the way."

"Ok, ok," Guanlin nods as he tries to say out  _hyung_ several times before continuing. When he manages to master the pronunciation, he beams and then continues, "Jihoon-hyung's the really nice hyung from the bakery next door! He comes over with pastries sometimes, and other times, he asks for ours because he's hungry. And he's really cute, so I always steal some of ours for him."

Woojin is appalled. How could Guanlin do that do him? He knows that there has been a café that's located across the street that was built several weeks after his (and Daehwi had complained about how it's pink retro aesthetic contrasted drastically with their pastel one) but he never actually visited it before. Now that he thinks about it, Woojin doesn't even know what the name of the café is. And Guanlin, the part-timer probably does—even knows the staff who work there!

"I can't believe you've been hanging out with our enemy!" Woojin huffs. It's not that he's against the  _other_ café, but Woojin has always been a competitive person.

"Hyuuuung," Guanlin whines, and it almost makes Woojin feel like he's the one in the wrong—for saying things in a way that sounds like he's scolding Guanlin. "You should meet Jihoon-hyung and you'd understand!"

"Oh really?" Woojin squints. "I don't care, you're still hanging out with the enemy!"

He makes sure to add some dramatic flair as he goes back to the kitchen to make another batch of nutella cupcakes to replace the stolen batch. "I'm deducting the cupcakes from your pay!"

Woojin is sure to ignore the way Guanlin yells, "Hyung, you  _can't_ do that to me!"

Oh yes, he can. He's the owner of Wanna Bean anyway.

But Woojin isn't  _that_ evil.

 

—

 

He does eventually get to meet the said Jihoon-hyung when he's taking out the trash during lunchtime, at the same time that Guanlin's taking a break from work.

Woojin hates to admit it, but when he lays his eyes on Jihoon, he does understand where Guanlin was coming from. Park Jihoon is the very embodiment of  _cute_ —and Woojin thinks that he would, if he could, challenge the very idea of "cute". It's terrible how his heart skips a beat when he lands his eyes on the shorter male, but the sunlight is hitting off Jihoon's pale skin, and his eyes seem to reflect everything wonderful and beautiful in this world—and Woojin can't help but think,  _damn,_ Park Jihoon  _is_ cute.

He's at a loss at what to do, however, because he has never felt anything for someone else like he is feeling now. It's an awkward feeling: the way his heart is beating so quickly and incessantly against his rib cage like a wild, untamed beast and Woojin doesn't quite know how to control his heartbeat and much more, react when Guanlin actually shouts while waving at him, "Woojin-hyung!"

He almost wishes that he could pretend that he came out of the backdoor by accident, but then he spies the rubbish bin behind Jihoon and Guanlin—and also, is that the eclair that he made this morning? It's ridiculous how Jihoon has been eating all his freshly prepared pastries even before he does. He feels his palms turn clammy with sweat as he takes slow steps towards the rubbish chute and he wants to give himself a pat on the back when he does manage to mumble out a "Hello."

"This is Jihoon-hyung!" Gualin beams as he notions over to Jihoon after Woojin throws the rubbish into the chute. Woojin looks at his hands awkwardly, and he wonders if he should extend it because Jihoon  _is_ holding the éclair that he made, and he isn't sure if Jihoon would want to touch his food-laced hands with his once, rubbish-infested ones.

"Hi!" Jihoon shoves the remainder of the éclair into his mouth and Woojin feels a stab in his heart at how quickly the sweet dessert was finished. He spent so much time and effort into perfecting each one of them, and that's how quickly Jihoon finishes it?! Jihoon does extend a hand out, with the other hand that wasn't touching the eclair, "I'm Jihoon! I work at your  _enemy_ bakery: Pink Hearts!"

"Hi," Woojin does manage to control all his arm muscles to extend his hand, and shake it. "I'm Woojin."

"I really like your pastries!" Jihoon beams, and Woojin tries not to cringe at the way his eyes are sparkling. God, how is any human allowed to be so radiant? They should be jailed so that they could protect the eyes of mere mortals like him!

"Thank you," Woojin smiles back at him and he thinks, that it's really a miracle how his voice has managed to sound level—without a single trace of how fast his heart has been beating this entire time. "Even though I'd think that you've been stealing my pastries!"

"I'm not  _stealing_ them!" Jihoon defends him and he turns to link arms with Guanlin. "Cutie Guanlinnie has been providing me with them!"

"I swear I'm going to fire you," Woojin glares at Guanlin.

"Hyung!"

Jihoon only laughs and Woojin thinks that it sounds like what he thinks angels would sound like. He really needs to re-evaluate his thoughts and his life choices, because he has a bad feeling, and it revolves around one person: Park Jihoon.

 

—

 

Woojin thinks that he's too amazing of a person because he still keeps Guanlin around. It's stupid how Guanlin continues to try being subtle at sneaking out freshly made pastries out of the back door; and recently, it's even worse because he steals them right when they are fresh out of the oven. How is Guanlin even able to time when Woojin makes his pastries with Jihoon's arrival? Does Woojin have a hidden body clock that he himself, isn't aware of?

Guanlin's whistling while trying to hide a bag behind him and Woojin thinks that he's really dumb because everyone else in the kitchen is staring at him. The back door doesn't close fully and Woojin can hear the way Guanlin shouts, "Jihoon-hyung, I got this for you!"

"Lai Guanlin, I swear, you're getting fired!" Woojin shouts back and he makes sure that his voice is loud enough so that Guanlin  _and_ Jihoon can hear it. "How dare you share our goodies with the  _enemy_!"

But he's also making his way out of the kitchen and to the back alley because a part of him wants to watch Jihoon, wants to watch the way his mouth envelopes the pastry, watch the way his eyes light up in happiness in the sheer goodness of the snack and the way his body seems to emanate happiness at the very consumption of the pastry.

"Stop calling me an enemy," Woojin sees Jihoon pout the moment he steps out of the back door. "I love  _all_ baked goods!"

"You're an employee of Pink Hearts, you have no right to tell me that," Woojin crosses his arms and leans against the wall next to the door. "Anyway, why aren't you in your own café during your break time?"

"I'm not allowed to stay inside the store during my breaks because I keep eating the merchandise," Jihoon admits with ("pathetic!" Woojin's mind yells, while his heart whispers, "adorable") sad bambi eyes.

Woojin sighs. "That's a good owner."

"No, that's a  _bad_ owner," Guanlin frowns. "How could anyone leave Jihoon-hyung out like this?!"

"Jinyoungie's my childhood friend," Jihoon pouts sadly. And Woojin tries to resist the urge to go back to the kitchen to grab one of those cream puffs that are being chilled. He hates how Park Jihoon has this effect on him—one that will make him do things that he has never done before. Why is Park Jihoon armed with such an incredible Pout™? It's unfair.

"Hang on for a while," Woojin thinks that he really needs to invest in a heart-to-brain filter because he really needs to stop listening to what his heart tells him to do and actually, listen to the rationality of his brain instead. He briefly sees the way Jihoon gives him a look of confusion, and Guanlin's smug grin and he hates himself for acting like this.

He sighs as he takes the cream puff out from the chiller, and packs three of them (one for Guanlin, one for Jihoon and another, for the mysterious _Jinyoungie_ ) into a paper bag. He kicks at the edge of the fridge for good emphasis, and ignores the way the rest of the staff give him looks of concern.

When he heads back to the back alley, Jihoon had finished all the pastries and he's wiping his hands on his jeans, and Woojin extends the paper bag out, "Here. For you. Guanlin too."

He's looking away, but it's a futile attempt to hide from the two because Jihoon is enveloping him in a hug and he beams, "Thank you! You're the best!"

 

—

 

"Daehwi," Woojin says, squinting at the cake Daehwi is carefully biting into, "that's not from our store."

Woojin knows each and every one of the pastries that is sold at Wanna Bean, and that includes the pastries that aren’t developed by him. Admittedly, they don’t have a lot of other pastry chefs in the café, but everyone gets time and space to develop their own recipes, and when they are confident to share one with Woojin, Woojin makes sure that it goes into his own book of  _Wanna Bean’s Recipe Collection_.

Daehwi shoves everything into his mouth and chews aggressively. "Hwaf?" he asks, muffled by the hands that are covering his traitorous chewing. "I don'o wha yur talk'n bout."

He looks down, and there’s that pink paper bag that sticks out against the pristine white of the kitchen table and Woojin raises a single eyebrow while crossing his arms. “We’ve been friends since we were five.”

Woojin watches the way Daehwi’s gaze switches from between him and the paper bag on the table, and Woojin almost feels bad that he’s making such a situation arise, so he tries to remedy it. “I’m not mad at you or anything, I just want to know.”

Daehwi swallows before he opens his mouth to respond, “It’s from Pink Hearts.”

“Is it good?” Woojin asks. He’s genuinely curious; after all, he has never tasted the pastries from there before.

“Well,” Daehwi pauses for a moment to clear his throat, and he’s beginning to look like one of those pretentious food critics. “It’s good. I’m not saying that our pastries aren’t good, but it’s just a… different type of good?”

“That’s very helpful,” Woojin deadpans.

“Well then!” Daehwi huffs, crossing his arms. “You should just eat it for yourself! Don’t ask me for my _honest_ opinion.”

Woojin sighs, “But isn’t it obvious if I’m the one going? It’s going to look like I’m staking the enemy!”

“Hyung, you’re the only person who still thinks that Pink Hearts and Wanna Bean are enemies. Even Jinyoungie-hyung doesn’t think that way!”

 _Jinyoungie-hyung?_ Wait, that name sounded familiar and if Woojin remembered it right—“Wait, you’re friends with the owner of Pink Hearts?”

“Y-yeah,” and for the strangest reason, a red flush is creeping its way up onto Daehwi’s cheeks. Woojin is reminded of that one time he had a crush on Samuel, one of their juniors back in middle school: the way he would turn red at the mention of his name and the way his voice would betray him and the confident, sassy Daehwi would be replaced by a shy, stuttering Daehwi.

“Oh my god,” Woojin concludes. “You have a crush.  _On the owner of Pink Hearts_.”

Perhaps, he’s being overly dramatic but this situation is  _too_ amusing. “I can’t believe this is happening. This can beat those Top 10 Anime Betrayals videos on Youtube!”

“Hyung!” Daehwi screams. “Shut up! I don’t have a crush on  _anybody!_ ”

Woojin squints at him. “And  _I_ , have visited Pink Hearts before.”

 

—

 

Woojin’s not quite sure what possessed him, but the next day, he wakes up and before he knows it, he has taken out an all-black ensemble, together with a black snapback and a black mask. He thinks that he’s going to be sticking out like a sore thumb in the retro pink café, but he’d rather look out of place than for Jihoon (or the mysterious Jinyoungie, who everyone else knows except  _him_ ) to recognize him. It’s almost funny how almost all his employees have already been to Pink Hearts, except for himself. And he should be the one to know the enemy!

"Oh, Woojin, you're here!" Jihoon beams when he sees Woojin walk into the store.

Wait. His disguise was  _supposed_ to work—and is that a donut in Jihoon's mouth? Isn't he supposed to be working? Why is he eating while he’s on the job?

"I’m taste testing the donuts," Jihoon supplies, as if reading Woojin's mind. Woojin doubts him.

"Want one?" Jihoon asks right before biting into a fresh donut. "The strawberry-filled ones are really good!"

Woojin, at the mention of strawberries, zooms in on the enticing red of Jihoon's lips.  _They do look really good_.  _Wait,_ let’s take a pause right there, Park Woojin. Did you just think that Jihoon’s lips look good? Perhaps, he’s staring a tad too long at Jihoon (and his lips) because Jihoon’s standing in front of him now, away from the counter, hand waving in front of him as he chews the remainder of the donut. “Helloooooo? Earth to Woojin?”

Woojin pauses for a moment before sighing and taking off his mask, “Give me some of those donuts, I guess.”

Jihoon beams at him again and it’s ridiculous how bright his smile is. It reminds him of the first time he perfected a recipe that he spent nights thinking about, and how the final product was just as good (or even better) than what he imagined it to taste like. It reminds him of all the good times that he has had in his life, and as cheesy as it may sound, Woojin thinks that he wants to continue to see Jihoon smile like that.

“Jihoon, I hope you’re not  _stealing_ those donuts, and that you’re actually selling them!”

“I’m selling them, Jinyoungie!” Jihoon shouts back and then, his lips begin to form a pout. He isn’t facing the direction of the voice, instead, he’s looking straight at Woojin, and Woojin feels a part of his heart crumble at the sight of those pink lips. “Look at how  _mean_ my best friend, the owner of Pink Hearts is…”

“You know,” Woojin stares at him, tries to look into his eyes so he can focus on something else but those glistening lips. “He’s running this café. And we need profit to continue making these goodies.”

“I know,” Jihoon huffs as he’s placing the donuts onto a tray. “But you’re always so nice to me and Guanlinnie. Jinyoungie should take a leaf out of you!”

It’s strangely apt that the said Jinyoung steps out of the kitchen at this moment in time, and Woojin finally gets to meet the rumoured  _Jinyoungie._ Jinyoung is not much taller than he is, but his face is fucking tiny, almost as tiny as those macarons that he occasionally makes. He is handsome though, and he can quite tell that Jinyoung is  _definitely_ Daehwi’s type.

“I should have never let you work here,” Jinyoung rolls his eyes as he takes off the apron to put it at the back of the counter. Then, he turns to look at Woojin to offer him a small, gentle smile and also, extends his hand out. “Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too,” Woojin accepts the hand while ignoring Jihoon who’s crossing his arms while huffing, and Woojin thinks that he vaguely resembles an angry Jigglypuff.

“But we’re best friends!”

“And best friends don’t let their best friends become broke because they destroyed their business,” Jinyoung retorts, and he hands the tray over to Woojin. “That would be ten dollars.”

Woojin fumbles around slightly for his wallet but he eventually, does manage to take out ten bucks and he decides on a small corner in the café to have the dessert. The pastry  _is_ good. It’s just the perfect balance of sweet, and it’s not ridiculously oily and Woojin can foresee himself coming over to get donuts from Pink Hearts occasionally. Well, if only he didn’t make his own donuts.

The corner is lovely, and it gives him a full view of Pink Hearts: the retro pink décor with neon lights and flamingo structures. It’s a different vibe from what you get at Wanna Bean, but out of all the interior and décor, Woojin thinks that there’s only one thing that stands out—and that is the radiance of Park Jihoon.

Fuck.

 

—

 

The next time Jihoon comes into the café, it’s apparently his off day because he has his pet dog—it’s a  _fucking_ corgi—with him. And Woojin has always loved dogs since his was young, even has a pet poodle back home in Busan, but his apartment in Seoul didn’t allow him to keep any dogs, so he hasn’t had any opportunity to play with them in ages.

"Hyung, you're so whipped," Daehwi whispers. “Even more whipped than the whipping cream you've been trying to make for the past ten minutes."

“I’m not whipped,” Woojin finally takes his eyes off Jihoon and goes back to mixing his cream. It’s not that he’s  _whipped_ or anything—it’s just that Jihoon—  _no,_ the corgi—is cute, and Woojin likes to appreciate cute things.

“Why not just have the two of them together?” Daehwi grins. Woojin thinks that he really should fire Daehwi at this rate, from the way the younger has been teasing him relentlessly recently. “Jihoon-hyung and the corgi—the best of both worlds!”

“Listen, Daehwi,” Woojin glares at the younger male. “ _Please_ just stop talking.”

It takes a lot more concentration that he would like to imagine to finish the batch of whipping cream, and when he’s done with the whipping cream and steps out to the counter, he’s greeted with a question from Jihoon.

"Do you have any treats?" Jihoon asks, his face pressed against the cupcake display and it's so ridiculous that Woojin wants to smash the display and shove all the cupcakes into Jihoon's arms.

Instead, he wrangles all the frustration into a ball and bites down on it. "Are you asking for yourself or your dog?"

Jihoon grins at him gleefully. "Both?"

“We’re a pet friendly café but this doesn’t mean that we have treats for dogs,” Daehwi butts in. Woojin turns to stare at Daehwi, and the younger only gives him a wink—and that means nothing good is going to come out from his mouth. “But I’m sure that Woojin-hyung would be more than willing to give you a treat.”

“Really?” Jihoon’s eyes are sparkling, and it’s so fucking blinding that Woojin thinks that he needs to invest in a pair of sunglasses soon.

“Yeah, sure,” Woojin sighs at the lack of brain-to-mouth filter, and he really needs to start thinking through his words before they actually escape from his mouth. “What do you want?”

“Could I get some cream puffs please?”

“Sure, coming right up,” Woojin smiles back, and it’s hard to get the image of Jihoon beaming in happiness at the thought of getting a  _special_ treat out of his mind, even though he’s back in the kitchen and he can only watch Jihoon play with his corgi from the glass window at the side. It’s like they are so close, but so far now, and all Woojin wants is to take the corgi into his arms, and maybe, Jihoon would come closer to him too.

There’s a voice at the back of his mind that sounds strangely like Daehwi, and it tells him:  _You’re so whipped._

Damn right he is.

 

—

 

Perhaps, Woojin should be getting worried at how often Jihoon has been spending time at the café. But then again, he’s no longer sneaking around the back alleys and he’s actually  _in_ the café now—meaning that he actually will pay for the goodies that he’s been consuming.

"Are you going to have some Halloween special cupcakes?" Jihoon asks, and there's that twinkle in his eye that Woojin loves to see. He’s leaning against the counter, hands squishing his cheeks slightly to support his body weight, and Woojin’s trying to resist the urge to squeeze those cheeks using his own two hands. “I just love it when cafés have these seasonal special cupcakes. Everything is cute and happy and it just brings a joy to anyone.”

"Yes, of course," and Woojin steps on Daehwi's foot, who's about to say "We don't do seasonal flavours!"

If it means staying back at the bakery to perfect the ratio of orange colouring to purple ones, to make perfect the cutting out of icing shapes, Woojin thinks he'll do it. It doesn’t matter if he’d be having late nights, if it means that he’ll see the way Jihoon's eyes crinkle up in happiness, the way he bites into the cupcake in excitement when Woojin presents it to him.

"I'm quitting, hyung," Daehwi whines once Jihoon’s occupied with another cupcake. "Can’t you stop pining, man up, and just confess to Jihoon-hyung?”

“When are you confessing to Jinyoung?” Woojin retorts, rolling his eyes.

“Forget I said anything!” Daehwi huffs, throws his arms into the air and walks into the kitchen. Woojin doesn’t miss the way the tips of his ears turn red and he can’t help but laugh.

 

 

 

Indeed, when he presents Jihoon with six different cupcakes, each designed with a certain Halloween theme, Jihoon does brighten up visibly. It’s like his entire body is happy from the sight of the sweets, and he’s grinning and then he’s biting into the treat, and he yells, “Woojin, these are _amazing!_ ”

He doesn’t tell Jihoon that he barely slept the last few nights, too busy spending time to perfect the icing and the ratio of food colouring, that all he wants to do now is actually go back home to have a nice long nap. Jihoon’s smile is probably stronger than any coffee that he has ever drank, because why would he want to go to sleep if being awake means that he gets to see more of this beautiful man?

 

—

 

As the Christmas season nears, it means that it’s busy time for him because of all the orders that he has to accomplish within the short amount of time because everyone wants to have Christmas parties on the same fucking day, and Woojin thinks that he’s going to vomit if he has to bake another Christmas cake by the time he’s on his 20th.

He does decide to close Wanna Bean on Christmas day itself, thinking that it would be good to have a celebratory party in the café after everyone else had also pulled in hours to toll through the numerous orders. But this also means that he has to bake the final cake for the party, and this is why he’s still in the café on Christmas Eve.

It’s dark outside, and Woojin can see the way the snow is falling from the transparent windows of the café. It’s cold outside, and a part of Woojin is thankful that he’s in the café, basking in the warmth of the oven and baking—but there’s a part of him that feels so inexplicably lonely whenever winter is here. He does have his friends, but his friends have their own company too—and it’s hard to reach out to others for company, hard to extend the first hand when they are all grown up and adults shouldn’t have feelings like loneliness anymore.

He’s resting his cheek against the cold metal table in the middle of the kitchen, when the backdoor to the café opens, and Woojin widens his eyes in slight fear. He looks around, desperate to find some sort of tool that he could use to ward off the invader, and he only has a blunt cake knife—well, perhaps, he could trick the invader into thinking that it’s sharp!

“Hey, hey, it’s just me!”

The figure reveals himself, and it’s Jihoon. Woojin breathes a sigh of relief, but wait—why is Jihoon here?

“What are you doing here?” Woojin asks, as Jihoon steps into the kitchen and begins to sweep off all of the residue of snow that was sticking onto his coat.

“Hm,” Jihoon pauses to take off his coat, and he’s wearing a mustard yellow shirt that should look hideous but somehow, Jihoon looks great in it. “I wanted to see you, I guess.”

“But aren’t we meeting each other tomorrow?” Woojin raises a single eyebrow. He did remember to invite Jinyoung and Jihoon to the party (even though they  _are_ from the  _rival_ bakery) because he did think that it’d be nice for them to come over and enjoy some fun with Guanlin and Daehwi.

“Yeah,” Jihoon nods. “But it’s not the same as being _with_ you.”

Woojin doesn’t want to think that he’s thinking too much into Jihoon’s words, but the words that he had just said sounds like they are something closer than just  _normal_ friends. Do friends say that they want to be  _with_ you so naturally like that? He knows that he isn’t good at this whole  _relationship_ thing, but Woojin doesn’t think that he’s  _that_  stupid either.

Jihoon walks up to Woojin and he deposits a paper bag in front of him and opens it up to reveal a rather ugly sandwich. “And well, I figured that you’d be too busy with the cake to eat so I brought you something.”

“Did you make it or something?” Woojin eyes the way the lettuce looks like it’s about to fall out of the bread and the way the edges of the bread look like they are have been toasted unevenly.

“Yeah,” Woojin muses as he watches the tips of Jihoon’s ears turn red, and the way he looks down to hide himself, to look at anywhere but Woojin. “It looks bad, doesn’t it?”

Woojin takes the sandwich into his mouth, and while it does look  _somewhat_ bad, it does taste just like how a sandwich is supposed to take like. “It tastes great, though.”

And perhaps, it’s the right words because Jihoon beams at him and yells, “That’s great!”

A moment of silence washes onto the both of them as Woojin focuses on finishing the sandwich and Jihoon is watching Woojin eat. It should be awkward, to be watched so intently like this; but there’s that element of concentration that Jihoon’s gaze has, like he just wants to see Woojin’s reaction that softens the awkward atmosphere, and turns it into one that’s comfortable and makes Woojin feel all warmed up from the inside.

He finishes the sandwich in a few more bites, and he doesn’t know what to say but he doesn’t have to say anything because Jihoon’s the one speaking first, “I hope you liked it.”

“It was great,” Woojin smiles at him, and he hopes that he manages to convey all the sincerity and gentleness that he wants to say. “Thank you for the sandwich.”

It’s like those moments in the dramas that Woojin occasionally enjoys where it looks like time comes to a slow, and there’s nothing that he can focus on except Jihoon—Jihoon who’s standing in front of him, Jihoon who’s looking straight into his eyes. His senses feel like they have been dulled, and his mind can only comprehend one thing, and that is the presence of Park Jihoon. He doesn’t actually comprehend the moment when he’s walking one step, two steps closer to Jihoon, and then they are right in front of each other.

Woojin thinks that he must have used up his entire lifetime worth of courage, because he doesn’t quite know what possesses him to lean in to capture Jihoon’s lips—those cherry pink lips that he has been staring at for the longest time, wondering how they taste, wondering how they would feel when it’s mashed against his own.

And when Jihoon begins to kiss him back, Woojin discovers that Jihoon tastes sweeter than any pastry that he has made, and he wants to continue tasting him for the years to come. They kiss, deeper and closer, and Woojin can feel the way Jihoon wraps his arms over Woojin’s neck to pull him closer. It’s almost like Jihoon is the centre of the earth and Woojin is being pulled in. He finds his arms winding around Jihoon’s own waist, and it’s just  _amazing_ how they fit  _so_ perfectly together.

When they part, Woojin feels breathless. It’s not the same breathless as when he finally perfects a recipe, when he sees the outcome of the cake when it leaves the oven. It’s a different type of breathless that he only gets when he’s with Park Jihoon.

 _“Fucking_ finally,” Jihoon has a triumphant smile on his face. “Took you long enough to finally kiss me.”

“I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time already,” Woojin admits, taking a single hand off Jihoon’s waist to scratch at the back of his head.

“I know,” Jihoon grins at him. “Did you think you were even being subtle about your affections?”

“What.”

“Please don’t tell me that you were being subtle,” Jihoon gawks in disbelief. “I can’t believe it took you so long to finally kiss me, when I’ve been coming over so long,  _paying_ for your pastries and I even brought Charm here because Daehwi told me you liked dogs!”

“Wait, what?”

“Oh my god,” Jihoon groans, taking his hands off Woojin’s shoulders to hide his slowly reddening face. “I can’t believe you’re so dumb  _and_ I still like you so much.”

“Hey,” Woojin squints at Jihoon, taking his hands to pull Jihoon’s hands off his face. “I may be dumb, but I still kissed you tonight.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,  _stupid_!”

“I really like you.”

“I guess… I like you too.”

 

—

 

It’s easy to tell when Valentines’ Day is near the corner. Pinks are everywhere, almost like everyone’s too hasty for winter to end and for spring to come. It’s almost disgusting how the world is enveloped in a bubble of love and affection, and the way Daehwi keeps shooting love eyes at Jinyoung during their breaks together and the way they’re sharing a sandwich in the little alley that separates both their cafés.

It’s the time where the café starts to prepare cute chocolates and pastries—especially chocolates, to bait those young students into buying, to confess to their crush in hopes of them being able to date. Woojin thinks that he really ought to come up with the recipes soon so that he doesn’t have to rush through them when he actually has to produce them quickly; but Woojin has his mind on another recipe instead.

 

> **Recipe:** How Park Jihoon and Park Woojin get together
> 
> **Ingredients List:**
> 
>   1.   100g of Park Jihoon
>   2.   100g of Park Woojin
>   3.   30g of Lee Daehwi
>   4.   20g of Lai Guanlin
>   5.   10g of Bae Jinyoung
>   6.   1 sprinkle of fate
> 

> 
> **Step One:**  With a sprinkle of fate, pour 10g of Park Woojin and 10g of Park Jihoon into the mixing bowl.
> 
>  **Step Two:** With 10g of Bae Jinyoung, 20g of Lai Guanlin and 20g of Lee Daehwi, add them into the mixture for additional flavour.
> 
>  **Step Three:** While whisking in 10g of Lee Daehwi, ensure the consistency of the batter remains as you fold in 50g of Park Woojin and 50g of Park Jihoon.
> 
>  **Step Four:** For the final step, pour in the rest of 40g of Park Woojin and 40g of Park Jihoon.
> 
>  **Step Five:** Bake in the oven for an hour and a half, at 180 degrees Celsius.
> 
>  **Step Six:** Take out the product from the oven. Let it sit for ten minutes before enjoying.

It’s cheesy, but Woojin thinks that Jihoon brings out the worst out of him and he doesn’t mind the embarrassment if it means that he gets to see the way the tips of Jihoon’s ears turn red, the way he hits him while shouting “Yah! Aren’t you embarrassed?”

It does turn out the way he expected it, though, when Woojin writes out the recipe into the letter while presenting him a box of six specially designed cupcakes. Everything’s sweet from the icing: pink sausages, edible glitter with stars, yellow ducklings, bunnies, a bright smiley face and hearts. When Jihoon opens up the box, his eyes light up in excitement but it’s even more priceless when he opens the letter and reads it out.

“Yah! Park Woojin!” Jihoon shouts, and Woojin relishes in the way the tips of Jihoon’s ears turn red. He’s looking at everywhere but Woojin, and Woojin feels the corners of his mouth being tugged upwards when he catches Jihoon’s hands as he makes the notion to hit him. “Aren’t you embarrassed?”

“If it’s you,” Woojin presses a kiss to Jihoon’s cheek, to the side of his mouth and finally, his lips. It’s easy to pull Jihoon in when his hands are in his, and Woojin thinks that his pastries are sweet—but nothing is sweeter than the taste of Park Jihoon’s lips. When they pull away, Jihoon’s eyes are glazed and they are looking past him, and Woojin continues, “It’s different.”

“I love you,” Woojin smiles and he rests his hands on the Jihoon’s waist.

“I guess,” Jihoon looks down, and Woojin lifts his chin up because he doesn’t want Jihoon to look anywhere else but at him. Jihoon’s face is burning brighter with every second, and Woojin can’t help but smile wider when Jihoon does say the words, “I love you too.”

 

—

 

Park Woojin has always been used to fixed ratios, numbers, and recipes. There are so many ingredients that he needs to make the pastries: flour, eggs, sugar… but he thinks, the most important ingredient of all, no matter how cheesy it sounds, is love.

Or maybe, it’s just Park Jihoon.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this heals the wounds from Tokyo Ghoul AU, ahahahahahahaha... brb while I'm going to vomit over the fluff.
> 
> Hit me up on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/99izm) if you'd like to die over 2park together, or please also feel free to leave any thoughts that you have on my [CC](https://curiouscat.me/chamwink).
> 
> Thank you for reading!


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